This invention relates generally to the monitoring of machinery, and more particularly to methods and systems for continuously monitoring a plurality of machines.
At least some known machinery monitoring systems, monitor machine drivers, for example, motors and turbines, or machine driven components, such as, pumps, compressors, and fans. Other known monitoring systems monitor process parameters of a process, for example, piping systems, and machine environmental conditions, such as machine vibration, machine temperature, and machine oil condition. Typically, such monitoring systems are supplied by an original equipment manufacture (OEM) that is responsible for only a portion of a facility, for example, a specific piece of equipment, and as such, the OEM may only provide monitoring for equipment provided by that OEM. However, industrial facilities such as power plants, refineries, factories, and commercial facilities, such as, hospitals, high-rise buildings, resorts, and amusement parks may utilize a considerable plurality of machine drivers and driven equipment dependently interconnected to form various process systems. An architect/engineer may integrate such equipment for an owner or operator of the facility. Monitoring systems supplied by different OEMs may communicate with external data collection and control systems, such as distributed control systems (DCS) located at sites that are remote from the monitored equipment, for example, control rooms and/or operating areas.
Typically, machine monitoring systems are primarily focused on providing operating indications and controls, and/or trending or datalogging capabilities for future reconstruction of abnormal events. Machine monitoring systems that provide useful maintenance related data, such as vibration data, limit data collection and analysis to discrete components isolated from other components that may be operated in an interconnected system. For example, monitoring systems may collect vibration data for a motor/pump combination but, analyze each machine separately, ignoring the interdependence between each individual machine. If the analysis does account for the combination acting as a connected combination, the known systems only consider the vibration parameters collected, and any further analysis of external causes or sources for the particular vibration characteristics of the motor/pump combination is done manually by a plant engineer performing troubleshooting or predictive maintenance activities. However, the motor/pump combination may be part of a larger process system wherein any number of process parameters from other motor/pump combinations and/or other equipment may contribute or affect the vibration characteristics of the motor/pump combination.